Organic White Wine

South Tyrol's Chardonnay legend writes another chapter. Since 1994, the Löwengang has characterised the perception of Alpine white wine excellence like no other. The historic estate above Margreids holds a secret: Chardonnay vines, whose roots reach up to five decades deep into the South Tyrolean soil, thrive on barren limestone soils between 230 and 330 metres. The warm microclimate with its nightly drops in temperature produces grapes of concentrated minerality. The Lageder family gives this terroir free rein. Organic farming without compromise, spontaneous fermentation in hand-picked barriques from the Tronçais and Vosges forests. One third new wood lends structure, while eleven months on the lees give the wine its silky texture. A further twelve months of ageing in the cellar bring the final harmony.

The name came first; the wine much later. As early as 1369, the Gauns are mentioned as the owners of a country estate in Margreid; in 1674, Emperor Leopold I knighted them, and the noble title "Löwengang" also became the name of the estate. In 1934, Alois III acquired the estate, including the buildings and vineyards, and recognised the potential of this site. His successor, Alois IV, turned it into a Chardonnay which, according to the estate, was the first South Tyrolean white wine to make its mark on international markets in the 1980s, and in 1995 he moved the company's headquarters from Bolzano to Margreid. The estate's finest plots lie at altitudes of between 230 and 330 metres, on gravelly, sandy and highly calcareous soils, and the oldest Chardonnay vines in the vineyard are between 65 and 75 years old. They are cultivated using biodynamic methods. The wine ferments spontaneously in barriques and large wooden casks, rests on the lees for several months and then matures for around a year in the bottle.

In 1935, Fascist Italy proclaimed the Empire – and Amedeo di Savoia, Duke of Aosta and Viceroy of Ethiopia, had a vineyard planted on the estate belonging to his family near Arezzo. Three hectares, terraced by hand, in the heart of the estate, at an altitude of 278 metres, facing south-east, on rock rich in galestro. He named the wine Vigna dell'Impero. The vineyard still exists today. Ninety years of vines on the same stones. The historic mixed planting – Sangiovese, Trebbiano, Malvasia, Canaiolo and Colorino, as has been the custom in the Chianti region for centuries – survived the wars, structural change and the drive towards monoculture. Today, the Trebbiano from this plot forms the basis of a wine that Antonio Moretti Cuseri only bottles in the very best vintages. Three thousand kilograms per hectare – almost a bountiful yield for ninety-year-old vines on galestro soil – resulting in a concentration that few Tuscan white wines can match.

In 1935, Fascist Italy proclaimed the Empire – and Amedeo di Savoia, Duke of Aosta and Viceroy of Ethiopia, had a vineyard planted on the estate belonging to his family near Arezzo. Three hectares, terraced by hand, in the heart of the estate, at an altitude of 278 metres, facing south-east, on rock rich in galestro. He named the wine Vigna dell'Impero. The vineyard still exists today. Ninety years of vines on the same stones. The historic mixed planting – Sangiovese, Trebbiano, Malvasia, Canaiolo and Colorino, as has been the custom in the Chianti region for centuries – survived the wars, structural change and the drive towards monoculture. Today, the Trebbiano from this plot forms the basis of a wine that Antonio Moretti Cuseri only bottles in the very best vintages. Three thousand kilograms per hectare – almost a bountiful yield for ninety-year-old vines on galestro soil – resulting in a concentration that few Tuscan white wines can match.

In 1985, Chardonnay was a provocation in Sicily. The lemon trees around Menfi were worth so little that it was hardly worth harvesting them. Diego Planeta had them uprooted – and planted Chardonnay on four hectares on the shores of Lago Arancio. What many thought was escapism was method: Diego knew that the island was capable of more than its reputation at the time suggested. Four years later, Carlo Corino from Piedmont, one of Italy's best Chardonnay specialists, arrived and helped to sharpen the wine's identity. The first vines from those years are still standing. Today, they are the starting point for Didacus – a tribute by the next generation to the patriarch whose Latin name it bears. Hand-picked from the best grapes from the historic vineyard, they are fermented and matured in barriques from the forests of Nevers, Vosges and Allier. Ten months – not a day more than necessary.

Now in its 30th vintage, it has long been an icon of modern Sicilian winemaking: Planeta's Chardonnay combines the French tradition of grape varieties with the sun-drenched terroir of the south, producing, year after year, one of Italy's most distinctive white wines. The grapes come from two different altitudes: Ulmo at 250 m and Maroccoli at 415 m above sea level. In the glass, it is a radiant golden yellow with slightly greenish highlights. The aroma is intense and refined: yellow tropical fruits, toasted almonds, citrus blossom, vanilla, wet stone and a hint of salty butter. On the palate, it is dense and full-bodied, with ripe fruit, a perfect balance between freshness and creaminess, subtle spice and a long, elegant finish. A cult wine that combines Mediterranean richness with Burgundian nobility. Ideal with lobster, pan-fried fish, poultry in a butter sauce, or even on its own as a great white wine with real character. SUPERIORE.DE

His father's name was Pin. His mother's was Lidia. When Giuseppe Rivetti began growing grapes in the hills of Asti in the 1970s, he and Lidia instilled in their four children – Carlo, Bruno, Giorgio and Giovanna, a conviction that still defines the estate's character today: a deep respect for the terroir, for the indigenous grape varieties and for what the earth provides. In 1977, the children, supported by their parents, produced the first single-vineyard Moscato d'Asti – the very first single-varietal, single-vineyard Moscatos in Italy. They honoured their father with the Pin, the Monferrato Rosso. And their mother was honoured with the Chardonnay.

A white wine that challenges everything you think you know about Puglia. While the region is known for powerful red wines from Primitivo and Negroamaro, this Fiano shows that great whites can also be produced here – perhaps even the best in the entire region. The organically cultivated vines are rooted in the barren limestone tufa soils of Tenuta Bocca di Lupo near Minervino Murge, at an altitude of 250-300 metres in the heart of the wild Murgia. Harsh winters, striking day-night fluctuations and the proximity to the extinct volcano Vulture characterise a terroir that produces white wines of rare minerality. The grapes are gently destemmed and pressed. The must rests for 24-48 hours at 10 °C for natural clarification before fermentation begins in stainless steel and is completed in French tonneaux. There the wine matures on the fine lees, followed by further bottle ageing.

Off the beaten track, following a different path and with a different relationship with nature: this is how the estate describes this wine, which is the result of a collaboration between Foradori and the biodynamic winegrower Marco Devigili. Two hectares of Pinot Grigio are grown in Campo Rotaliano near Mezzolombardo, on alluvial gravel soil, and the wine is transferred to clay amphorae. The wine remains on the skins for more than eight months, allowing the grape variety time to reveal its delicate character.

In 1557, a candle factory made Count Vincenzo Consolati wealthy enough to establish a country estate near Trento. In 1815, an Empire-style villa was built there for Count Simone Consolati, intended as a retreat from the worries of city life and a place to entertain friends. The First World War devastated the estate, but new plantings saved it. Foradori has leased the vineyards since 2007; the slopes face south, and the soil is red and interspersed with white rock, consisting of clay and limestone. Three hectares are planted with Nosiola, an ancient Trentino grape variety that once grew throughout the region but is now found only in the Valle dei Laghi, on the hills of Trento and in Pressano. The wine remains on the skins for eight months, in Spanish clay amphorae from Villarrobledo.

Now in its 30th vintage, it has long been an icon of modern Sicilian winemaking: Planeta's Chardonnay combines the French tradition of grape varieties with the sun-drenched terroir of the south, producing, year after year, one of Italy's most distinctive white wines. The grapes come from two different altitudes: Ulmo at 250 m and Maroccoli at 415 m above sea level. In the glass, it is a radiant golden yellow with slightly greenish highlights. The aroma is intense and refined: yellow tropical fruits, toasted almonds, citrus blossom, vanilla, wet stone and a hint of salty butter. On the palate, it is dense and full-bodied, with ripe fruit, a perfect balance between freshness and creaminess, subtle spice and a long, elegant finish. A cult wine that combines Mediterranean richness with Burgundian nobility. Ideal with lobster, pan-fried fish, poultry in a butter sauce, or even on its own as a great white wine with real character. SUPERIORE.DE

Chardonnay in the Maremma – that sounds like a bad idea. The sun is too strong, the summer too long, the heat too Mediterranean. And yet: Georg Weber has taken up this challenge. Not because he had to, but because he loves Chardonnay – the great white Burgundy wines, their texture, their complexity, their ability to express a place rather than mask it. Capalbio is one of the very few places on the Tuscan coast where this gamble pays off: 30 to 80 metres above sea level, five kilometres from the Tyrrhenian Sea, clay-limestone with eroded stones, constant sea breezes, cool nights. Each plot is vinified separately – because Weber believes that the terroir should have the final say, not the cellar. Whole-bunch pressing, natural fermentation, ageing on the fine lees with regular bâtonnage, using gravity exclusively throughout the entire process. Matured in French barriques and oval concrete tanks – a combination that gives the Chardonnay structure and depth without weighing it down. Around 5,000 bottles. The terroir allows for no more.

The name is a tribute – a deliberate homage to Bâtard-Montrachet, the legendary white wine Grand Cru of the Côte de Beaune. Querciabella did not choose it out of arrogance, but out of conviction: because the steep Galestro slopes of Ruffoli, 350 to 600 metres above Greve in Chianti, possess the terroir to produce white wines with Burgundian depth and longevity.

Monteverro's Chardonnay is an exciting and multi-faceted expression of Tuscan white wine culture and combines Burgundian finesse with the radiance of the Maremma. The grapes come from carefully tended plots on limestone and clay near Capalbio, where the coastal microclimate with warm days and cool nights offers the Chardonnay an ideal ripening window. The vinification was carried out with Burgundian standards: slow fermentation in French barriques – partly new, partly used –regular bâtonnage and a fine lees ageing period of around ten months.

With the Bòggina B, Petrolo revived an almost forgotten tradition in 2014: the great white wine of the Valdarno, as Tuscany had known it for centuries before red wine came to dominate the region. The wine takes its name from the Bòggina vineyard, where the first Trebbiano vines were planted in the 1970s; below this vineyard, the family has since replanted with the same original clones to secure the stock for decades to come. The 2024 vintage comes from certified organic cultivation, harvested by hand into crates and sorted on the sorting table. Spontaneously fermented with indigenous yeasts in tonneaux, it matures for over 15 months on the fine lees in specially selected French oak barrels, with bâtonnage that is constant at first and gradually tapers off – the wine remains unfiltered and undisturbed until bottling.

Just 500x sets of 3 of these three exceptional site wines go on sale worldwide with each vintage. We are pleased to present this strictly limited wine journey through the volcanic terroir of the Soave Classico area exclusively in Germany:

"Unlike anything you know: this single-varietal Sauvignon Blanc is wild and unspoilt. A special experience for wine lovers." Michael Graf Goëss-Enzenberg, Weingut Manincor

Rich straw yellow colour, rich, complex aroma with a delicate, pleasantly creamy nose and the scent of citrus and pineapple, on the other hand lots of structured spice and a hint of vanilla. The winery's white flagship brings its primary fruit to the fore with impressive intensity, but it also offers plenty of exciting complexity in a second wave of subtle flavours that testify to extreme care and precision in winemaking. The lingering finish is refined with a subtle hint of bitter almond. SUPERIORE.DE

The name came first; the wine much later. As early as 1369, the Gauns are mentioned as the owners of a country estate in Margreid; in 1674, Emperor Leopold I knighted them, and the noble title "Löwengang" also became the name of the estate. In 1934, Alois III acquired the estate, including the buildings and vineyards, and recognised the potential of this site. His successor, Alois IV, turned it into a Chardonnay which, according to the estate, was the first South Tyrolean white wine to make its mark on international markets in the 1980s, and in 1995 he moved the company's headquarters from Bolzano to Margreid. The estate's finest plots lie at altitudes of between 230 and 330 metres, on gravelly, sandy and highly calcareous soils, and the oldest Chardonnay vines in the vineyard are between 65 and 75 years old. They are cultivated using biodynamic methods. The wine ferments spontaneously in barriques and large wooden casks, rests on the lees for several months and then matures for around a year in the bottle.

Now in its 30th vintage, it has long been an icon of modern Sicilian winemaking: Planeta's Chardonnay combines the French tradition of grape varieties with the sun-drenched terroir of the south, producing, year after year, one of Italy's most distinctive white wines. The grapes come from two different altitudes: Ulmo at 250 m and Maroccoli at 415 m above sea level. In the glass, it is a radiant golden yellow with slightly greenish highlights. The aroma is intense and refined: yellow tropical fruits, toasted almonds, citrus blossom, vanilla, wet stone and a hint of salty butter. On the palate, it is dense and full-bodied, with ripe fruit, a perfect balance between freshness and creaminess, subtle spice and a long, elegant finish. A cult wine that combines Mediterranean richness with Burgundian nobility. Ideal with lobster, pan-fried fish, poultry in a butter sauce, or even on its own as a great white wine with real character. SUPERIORE.DE

Batàr is undoubtedly reminiscent of Burgundy, but with unmistakable Tuscan authenticity. Vintage after vintage, Querciabella's forward-thinking winemaking has moved beyond the hedonistic idea of growing foreign, albeit noble, white grapes in a stronghold of red wines to focus on expressing a particular sense of place. The Batàr's inherent vitality and classic minerality clearly come from the high altitude vineyards of Ruffoli and the Galestro soils typical of the best Chianti Classico sites.

In 1935, Fascist Italy proclaimed the Empire – and Amedeo di Savoia, Duke of Aosta and Viceroy of Ethiopia, had a vineyard planted on the estate belonging to his family near Arezzo. Three hectares, terraced by hand, in the heart of the estate, at an altitude of 278 metres, facing south-east, on rock rich in galestro. He named the wine Vigna dell'Impero. The vineyard still exists today. Ninety years of vines on the same stones. The historic mixed planting – Sangiovese, Trebbiano, Malvasia, Canaiolo and Colorino, as has been the custom in the Chianti region for centuries – survived the wars, structural change and the drive towards monoculture. Today, the Trebbiano from this plot forms the basis of a wine that Antonio Moretti Cuseri only bottles in the very best vintages. Three thousand kilograms per hectare – almost a bountiful yield for ninety-year-old vines on galestro soil – resulting in a concentration that few Tuscan white wines can match.